Great overview of the issues facing the New York City MTA. Basically, the fare hike and service cuts are completely necessary because they have a massive budget problem. And the reason they have a massive budget problem is more because New York State won’t give them anywhere near the funding that most cities’ mass-transit departments get from their respective states.

New York State has had budget problems for a long time. It’s pretty clear that the state government is the less efficient organization here.